Pro12 matches could be played outside Europe - John Feehan

Leinster are the current Pro12 champions after winning the 2014 title in Brian O'Driscoll's (centre) final match

Pro12 matches could be played around the world in countries such as the United States, according to the league's chief executive John Feehan.

The Pro12 is currently comprised of four Welsh teams, four from Ireland and two each from Scotland and Italy.

But Feehan says some fixtures could be moved to countries outside Europe.

"There's any number of places you could do this. We are certainly not ruling it out as a concept," he told BBC Scrum V Radio.

"An obvious one would be one of the Irish teams playing on the east coast of America."

Pro12 boss John Feehan is also chief executive of the British and Irish Lions

English Premiership side Saracens wanted to move a 2011 Heineken Cup home fixture against Biarritz to Cape Town but cancelled those plans.

There are no imminent proposals for Pro12 teams to stage matches outside of the usual host nations, but the league remains open to the idea.

"Rather than looking at the new, the exceptional and the different, I think it's very important that we concentrate very strongly on what we have got," said Feehan.

"We've got to engage with the communities we're in and we will do that."